Steve Venables Kawasaki Super Street bike














			Photographs by Peter Donaldson

				To contact Steve Venables, click here

I bought a crash damaged ZX12R which I immediately stripped down to see what chassis modifications were needed. I increased the rake to the front to allow for the turbo. lowered the bike, fitted a new 10” over swinging arm and we then had the basis for a drag bike.
Several phone calls to Velocity Racing in the States and two trips later we had a good working relationship and had struck a deal with Barry Henson (the owner of Velocity Racing) to supply the turbo and electronics needed.

I approached a friend of mine, Graham Balchin, who is also the MD of TraceCraft Ltd, who designs and builds data-logging systems for cars and bikes and persuaded him to do the electronics and be my crew-chief.
As soon as we arrived at Velocity’s shop, we got to work on the bike (myself and Graham Balchin) under the watchful eye of Barry Henson, owner of Velocity Racing. The main change to be made to the bike was to remove the 4-degree rake we had in the headstock. In 8 days the bike was completely stripped and rebuilt with a new frame, rewired, new longer swinging arm, larger turbo intake pipe and a new shallower oil pan designed by Barry. The bike was lowered by 1.5” and we could push the back wheel back a further 2” and stay inside the 68” wheelbase. We then set off for Gainesville from Ft Lauderdale at midnight and arrived at 6am. The gates opened for testing at 8am. To say I was tired was an understatement!
After 2 or 3 runs we had the bike running 8.0s and with the track about to close at 6pm we turned the boost up and ran my first 7sec pass a 7.81 at 190mph.
We then entered the world finals and managed a best of 7.6 at 194mph.and qualified 10th not to bad considering we were against the best in the world.
The bike was then shipped back to the UK ready to race at Easter at the ACU opener at Santa Pod raceway. Barry Henson kindly offered to come over from the USA to help with the bike setup. We qualified No. 1, won the meeting, ran the first ever super street bike 7 sec pass and set both British Records with 7.74sec et and 193 mph.
Over the rest of the season we managed to reset the speed record 2 more times leaving it standing at 196.8mph. We ran the first 7 sec pass seen at the Bull Dog Bash, ran the first ever 7 sec pass seen at Hockenheim. Won the British Championship, won the Power National Championship and won the SPRC Championship. So you could say we had a fantastic year. A big thanks must go out my crew man Graham, Barry Henson (Velocity Racing) and Ray Debben (Debben Performance) and my family for all their support throughout the year.

This bike has now been purchased by team mate Graham Balchin.